IQNA

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Senior leaders of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states stressed the importance of taking swift action to put an immediate end to the ongoing brutal violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

On
the sidelines of the first OIC summit on science and technology in Kazakhstan’s
capital of Astana, the participants held an emergency meeting on the latest
condition of the Rohingya Muslims amid the fresh wave of violence against the
minority group and issued a statement.

The
statement called for cooperation among Muslim countries aimed at dispatching
humanitarian aid to the oppressed Rohingya and attending to the condition
ofthe refugees.

The
OIC leaders attending the Astana summit also expressed their deep concern
aboutcrimes and violence against the Rohingya Muslims.

Addressing
the summit on Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani underlined the need for
unity and cooperation among Muslim countries as the key to rid the world of
violence and reach permanent peace.

"We
have all reached a consensus that the Muslim world is a crucial and effective
part of the global system, and its capability, progress and stability
leadto global capability, progress and stability,” the Iranian president
said.

Myanmar's government alleged
last October that its posts had been attacked by Muslim militants, using the
purported assault as a pretext for a siege on Rakhine state. It claimed that
another attack had been carried out on August 25 this year, triggering the
recent brutal crackdown on the civilians in that state.

Since the beginning of the fresh wave of
violence, counteroffensives by Myanmar’s army have killed hundreds of people,
burned thousands of houses, razed a large number of villages and depopulated
vast swathes of land in Rakhine state. However, Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, has dismissed the Rohingya crisis as a misinformation campaign, rejecting
the occurrence of any clampdown on the minority.

There
have been numerous reports of summary execution, rape, and other abuses against
Myanmar's Muslims since late last year.